How To Winter Solstice: A Mini Guide
A new tradition that I'm making and some ideas for solsticing in a modern world
This week brings us the Winter Solstice, and while I’m always wanting to celebrate, I often feel like it’s such an amorphous and woo-woo thing to get into as a family. Although I tend to be a tad witchy, my husband is very traditional. He’s used my quirks so it works, but I really want to lean into things with the kids this year. I’m sending this guide a little early to give you time to prep in case you want to mark this special day as well.
There are many ways large and small to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes, and even just a simple meal with ingredients that are in-season is “enough”. However, I want to start a tradition that marks the time and gives us something simple and easy to do. I have a few ideas today that I want to share, just to inspire you into something easy, fun, and meaningful.
Let’s Talk Solstice
Winter solstice is very much overshadowed by Christmas, which we fully subscribe to in our home as well, but there’s such an ancient and beautiful message tucked into this middle-most moment of winter.
Though tonight is long and dark, tomorrow brings ease and lightness.
The winter solstice is the longest night of the year. This year it lands on December 21st. It therefore brings us forward into the light. Darkness will be at our back, and much like the experience of being human, there is always a glow to look to within. What light do we want to share and how much of it? What darkness do we want to leave behind? These will be some simple questions that I’ll ask my kids.
The truth of the matter is that we often want to outshine our darkness, ignore it, or hide from it. However, not a single flower blooms in only sunshine. Some flowers - tulips for example, even need freezing temperatures to actually be able to give us their beauty. Embrace the darkness, the sadness, the hardness, the too-muchness, the coldness of ourselves, and become even more whole.
How I’m Solstice-ing
What I’ll be doing at our house is largely inspired by a combination of traditions, to make our own new thing. I’m taking one part of the Swedish celebration of St. Lucia, which typically lands on December 13th, and then one part of the Japanese tradition of a healing Yuzu bath on the longest night of the year.
First, I’ll get the kids into a bath of Epsom salts and yuzu citrus slices (or lemons if I can’t source yuzu). My kids LOVE a unique bath setup, so this will be a hit. In the Japanese culture, the yuzu bath is meant to boost your immune system and bring forth healing into the new season. After the bath I’m going to put them to bed as normal, except a few minutes later I’m going to wake them up with a surprise.
I’ll be making the kids some evergreen wreaths for their heads, and getting some candles for them to carry outside (I stocked up at Dollar Tree and got a ton of taper candles for this). Once bathed and into jammies, I’ll lead the kids out at bedtime in the dark, into a candle-filled greenhouse. They’ll find a cozy picnic with sunbread and butter, pomegranates, and watermelon, as well as some warm tea with honey. I’ll have a little Winter Solstice playlist going to really set the mood.
The goal here will be to make a memory for them and me. I’ll ask some light vs dark questions, share stories, and read some books too. It’s so cozy in the greenhouse that I think this will be just a fun way to connect and feel a winter vibe.
I even created a Winter Solstice Spotify Playlist (you can listen to that here), which we’ll put on in the background. I swear I’m not trying to plug my book, but part of my key to connecting with each season is to fill all our senses with it - smells, music, activities, pretty nature decor, etc. and this experience will be very winter-inspired, which is all a part of what makes events in our lives memorable and magical.
Sunbread is a fun little sun-shaped bread loaf that we typically make together. There’s a book about it that you can snag now, just in time. It tells the solstice story beautifully. The pomegranates and watermelon represent seasonal fruit and summer’s promise ahead. I’m hoping this is when we talk about the solstice, what it represents, and how we can honor the light and dark within ourselves.
For some abbreviated ideas, there are many ways to connect to the solstice that are a touch less involved:
Winter Solstice Ideas:
Yuzu bath (or lemon would work too as it’s detoxifying) with intention-setting
Candlelit dinner with only candles for lighting (and maybe some twinkle lights)
Cutting out paper starts and writing out anything we want to release on them - burning them in the fireplace or a bonfire
Have a bonfire and stay up a little late stargazing
Make a focaccia breadscape for your own sun bread rendition
Forage for some evergreen branches and make a table-top wreath to light candles in and journal about what you want to bring into the new year
Some Solstice intention and journaling prompts:
Every year, similar to resolution-setting, I take inventory of what went well and what I want to improve on or get rid of going into the new season. I do a lot of manifestation work and inner work throughout the year and this is a part of the end-of-year internal inventory that I do. I do an ongoing manifestation practice via To Be Magnetic which aligns with this and has you do something similar in tracking what you’ve brought into your life, where you saw blocks, tests, triggers, etc.
I find that really taking time to just be thoughtful is what helps me move the needle on change in my life. I want to know what I’m working towards so that I can literally rewire my brain as needed. Neuroplasticity, babe!
For some, taking a bath and listening to music can help get into a good headspace. Thinking about either new goals or specific intentions and then writing them down seals in the intentionality. I find that really calling out my “darkness” or perceived weaknesses/ things that I don’t love about my personality help me to embrace them. There truly is not unflawed human. We all have sides to us that we want to hide or ignore. Shining a light in the dark corners of our lives is what helps us heal them.
For setting intentions or thinking about what to journal on:
What behaviors, habits, or thought patterns do I want to release this season?
What behaviors, habits, or thought patterns do I want to celebrate and keep?
What “more” do I want for the new season of light?
What less do I want?
How can I be a light in the world?
How can I embrace my darkness and also forgive myself?
No matter how you celebrate, I think it’s fun to introduce some magic and awareness into the everyday. Our world is full of natural rhythms that are easy to access and celebrate in alignment with the sun, moon, and stars.
Cheers to solstice my loves!